Monday, August 13, 2007

Perusing a column about why campus workers pay for parking and data port activation instead of having such costs covered by the university, I found Gary Olsen's explanation of chargebacks an interesting one. And then we came to this:

...All of those activities carry a cost that someone must pay. State Farm and other corporations simply fold the cost of parking into what they charge their customers, and that is why parking appears to be free. Of course, universities could always follow suit and include the real cost of parking (as well as the cost of other services such as port activation) into the tuition they charge, but such measures would ensure that the cost of a college education would become so prohibitive that we would return to the days when only the affluent could afford it.

Obviously, Mr. Olsen missed this column on the stratification of a college education and how, surprisingly, only the affluent can afford it.